David Putterman said he has been injured several times after drinking heavily.

"I've fallen down stairs, but I just had cuts and bruises," Putterman (freshman-computer science engineering) said.

People who consume at least 12 drinks in a year are three times as likely to die from injury as non-drinkers, according to a study at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

While alcohol had a major effect on all categories of injury death, the greatest increase in risk among alcohol drinkers was for drowning deaths, said Susan Baker, professor of health and policy management at the university and co-author of the study.

"Alcohol increases the risk of getting into a dangerous situation and it changes people's behavior and perception of hazard," Baker said. "It increases the likeliness of a person getting into a dangerous situation."

People who are at risk of drowning are less likely to be able to survive in their situation if they have alcohol in their blood because it has a huge influence on their ability to get out of the water, Baker said.

Byron Jones, professor of biobehavioral health and pharmacology at Penn State, said that drinkers are at a higher risk for drowning because alcohol im-pairs their sense of balance and three-dimensional directions.

"You get easily disoriented in the water, and it increases your chance of drowning," Jones said.

Baker said that the study combined heavy and light drinkers because the researchers used two different databases with two sets of facts, and they needed a common variable. The variable was a person who had consumed 12 alcoholic drinks in the last year, which the study defined as a "drinker," she said.

"One survey gives an idea of how much the entire population is drinking, and the other one tells us how people died and their drinking history," Baker said.

According to the study, 59 percent of people who died from injury were current drinkers, she said.

Jones said that a person's judgment is impaired at about half the legal limit for driving, or a blood-alcohol level of .04.

"Alcohol interferes with executive function, which is the part of human behavior that involves the pre-frontal cortex of the brain and inhibits certain kinds of behaviors," Jones said. "Alcohol interferes with the inhibitory effects and makes you take risks you otherwise would not take."

Jones said alcohol doesn't just lead to accidents, but it can increase the likeliness of getting into a fight or engaging in unsafe sex.

"Normally, there are limits on our behavior, and we act in ways to protect ourselves, not only from injury but also socially," he said. "It's all related to judgment, and alcohol impairs that judgment."

Nyssa Lewis (junior-wildlife and fisheries science) said that on New Years Eve, she fell off a porch and over a bike that was laying on the ground while she was intoxicated.

"I had bruised ribs and huge scrapes and bruises up my side," Lewis said. "I don't even remember how much I had to drink."

Edward Rosick, a physician at University Health Services (UHS), said staff members at UHS see several people every week who have suffered injuries while intoxicated.

"Some people slip and fall and sprain their ankles, and others [are injured] through altercations," Rosick said. "After having too much alcohol, they may get into fights with someone or hit a wall while drunk."

Rosick said UHS has also treated people who broke their hands while intoxicated.

"Excessive alcohol predisposes people to get into fights because they're not thinking clearly, and they do things the normally wouldn't do," he said. "Alcohol is a legal drug and people are going to use it, but they're also going to abuse it because it's so easily obtainable."

Putterman said most of his accidents while drinking happened after he had 12 to 15 drinks.

"I've only gotten into fights a couple times while drunk, and I had bloody knuckles and scarring," he said.